School boards continue to hold down spending, taxes |
FOR RELEASE: April 27, 2011
CONTACT: David Albert
(518) 783-3716 or (518) 320-2221 cell
New York’s school districts are curbing spending growth for the seventh straight year, holding the average proposed spending increase in 2011-12 to just 1.3 percent, according to the latest state Property Tax Report Card compiled by the State Education Department.
In the face of a dramatic $1.2 billion cut in state aid, school districts held the average statewide property tax levy increase at 3.4 percent under the proposed 2011-12 district budgets. That compares favorably with last year’s average levy of 3.2 percent, when taxpayers overwhelmingly supported 92 percent of school district budgets.
According to the data, 97 percent of reporting districts (640 of 658) are using reserves to reduce property taxes in 2011-12. These districts are using a total of nearly $1.3 billion in reserves – an average of about $2 million per district.
“Given the fiscal conditions and limited management controls available to districts, school officials are already doing what those in Albany have repeatedly suggested. They are negotiating concessions with employee unions, using reserve funds and federal jobs money, and finding ways to share services and cut costs,” said New York State School Boards Association Executive Director Timothy G. Kremer. “Due to a third straight year of the state failing to increase its contribution to public education, painful budget decisions still needed to be made. That is why valuable school district employees have to be laid off. That is why essential programs for our children have to be eliminated. And that is why the proposed average tax levy isn’t even lower.”
Reflecting the difficult economic times, the average school district spending increase would fall for the seventh year in a row, according to SED data. The average proposed spending increase of 1.3 percent for 2011-12 is lower than the 1.4 percent average this year, the 2.3 percent average in 2009-10, 5.3 percent in 2008-09, 6.1 percent in 2007-08, 6.3 percent in 2006-07, 6.6 percent in 2005-06, and 6.9 percent in 2004-05. The five-year average is 3.9 percent.
About one-third of districts (35.6 percent) have proposed tax levy increases for 2011-12 of 2 percent or less. Twenty districts are decreasing their tax levies from 2010-11 to 2011-12, and 36 districts are holding their tax levies flat.
Kremer said with recent reductions in state aid, the result has been predictable: While the average proposed spending increase has decreased each of the past three years, the average proposed property tax levy increased from 2.1 percent to 3.2 percent to 3.4 percent this year.
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